Been keeping an eye on this thing for a while since it launched. Compared to other projects that have become aesthetically boring, this one’s model is pretty fresh. Plus, it seems like they teamed up with some overseas conspiracy groups right from the start to mine the genesis block, so there’s a chance it could take off. But after today’s announcement about not issuing tokens, I feel like the momentum is gone. It might survive, but it’s unlikely to become a phenomenon-level product. The main issue is it hurt a bunch of people who specialize in losing money through trading and mining. No matter how nicely they phrase it, for those people, it’s basically a Rug. Take Machi @machibigbrother, for example. He’s been playing since day one, and so far, he’s lost $779K in trading, got back $390K in USDC, and 63.6M Paper tokens. Originally, he was expecting to make a killing with Paper after the launch and recover his losses. Now it’s turned into play money. Wonder how he feels about that. Why am I less optimistic about the future? 1. The unique advantages of @papertrade_xyz’s product are still there, but the biggest draw—‘token narrative + mining’—has been weakened. 2. Without external speculative premium on the token, the cash-out path for mining is basically closed. They’re only focusing on two markets, but the depth and product richness are nowhere near Hyperliquid. 3. Changing such an important rule on short notice has shaken the community’s confidence. Who knows if they’ll pull something like this again in the future?